Ill love
by Scetchbook123
Summary: When Karkat gets sick John feels the need to take care of him after watching his struggle in a nightmare. "It's normal...I think." Karkat's ill suffering turns out to be far worse than they thought but IF he survives what will happen to them?
1. Chapter 1

"Get the fu-uck ahaahha! O-off me!" Karkat shouts. "Never!" I reply and continue tickling the short troll. "Oof!" My air gets kicked out of me. Literally, he just kicked my guts.

"Jeez Karkat calm down!" I chuckle. "Jackass." He grumbles as he sits back up.

"I just wanted to see you smile you big grouch." I reply. "I'm not even that ticklish. There are better ways that I maybe wont hate you for." He folds his arms. "Like what?" I ask.

"I smile plenty during romcoms. If you want to see me smile so bad just sit through one of them for once." He answers. I just give him a sort of ":I" look. I really don't want to. Those movies are so boring. "No thanks, I don't want it that much. I can make you smile other ways." I reply.

"Yeah no. Don't touch me. Like, ever. No tickling, no hugs, no hair ruffling, no horn touching. Get it?" He snaps. Jeez! Wait. Horns? Oh yeah! "You can feel your horns?" I ask.

"Hang on Egbert. Am I gonna have to explain how it works?" He turns to face me.

"Yes." I answer. He rolls his eyes and turns to me. "Only the base of the horns have nerves but because I am sooo lucky as to have little nubs for me it's just all of it." As he explains that I can't help but snicker. "The feeling is different for everyone ok? It might tickle to some or be irritating. I don't know. You aren't supposed to talk about them none the less touch them but I don't want you touching mine so make sure you understand that is the only reason I am telling you any of this." He explains.

"Wow. Ok. So what do yours feel like?" I ask, inching closer carefully so he wont notice.

"..I don't know. Like I said, you don't touch them. And I don't want to know since once again, they aren't meant to be touched in the first place." He answers. "Sooo..." I lean forward. "Don't you do it." He snaps. "Aha!" I latch onto them.

"Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..." Is he... Purring? That's so cute! And hilarious! I am so holding this against him.

I check his face for a reaction. His eyes are closed and he seems kind of limp.

"You ok?" I ask. I let go and wait. The purring starts to die down. "That was so cute-" I start to laugh but he sort of stops me. He is suddenly leaning against me, looking like he is half asleep.

"Did that relax you?" I ask. He nods slowly, his head is against my arm so I don't even ave to look at him so know. His hair is soft..

"You need to sleep now?" I ask. He nods again. Wow. It's like a tranquilizer for him. Sweet!

That's actually kind of cute. I pet his hair and smile when I hear a faint purr in response.

I wait a minute and he is sleeping. Its weird. I know the whole lowbloods are warmer thing, but shouldn't he be a furnace or something with the weird mutant blood thing? I don't understand whats wrong with his blood but still. He's kind of cold. I wonder if he's ok.. I probably just don't understand how that temperature thing works.

I sit back and look around the room. I'm probably gonna need to stay here with him. Not that I mind.

He is so innocent when he sleeps.

I start to drift off to but he starts mumbling. I can't make out any words... I still feel tired.

He shifts a little, facing me more. "Karkat..?" I rub my eyes to try and wake myself up faster.

"Stp...St-stop..." He gets a little bit louder. What's going on?

"No... Stop!" He went from peaceful sleep to a pained whimper "Karkat?" I ask. "Hey wake up it's just a dream.." I put a hand on his shoulder. "No!" He yelps and grabs my wrist. His eyes keep cracking open for a slip second. His nails start to dig into my skin.

Well I'm awake now. "H-hey Karkat." Yeah this is freaking me out. What's happening?

I shake his shoulder with my other hand, causing him to move away and fall off the couch.

His nails drug down my wrist as he fell before letting go, making me bleed much more.

"Karkat!" I shout. I quickly move to the floor and sit on my knees next to him. He whimpers, tears starting to stream down his face. In just a second he wakes up and curls into a little ball against my knees. "K-Karkat?" I ask. "Are you awake now?" I move some hair out of his face and look at his eyes. He looks so scared... I keep moving hair back even when I don't need to. He got so cold just now... He looks up at me, hands shaking and close to his chest. "What happened?" I keep my voice soft. His eyes lock on my bleeding wrist. "F-fuck I'm sorry!" He closes his eyes tight.

"...Karkat what just happened?!" I shout and shake his shoulder. "Stop!" He yelps, throwing him arms in front of his face to shield it. Oh my god.. I feel so bad and helpless!

"I'm sorry Karkat.. Please tell me what just happened." I lower my voice again.

"Th-they were hurting us a-and I. I just. I couldn't stop it I couldn't do anything why couldn't I do anything?!" He cries. No longer shielding his face I watch his red tears stream down.

"I-I'm sorry John I'm really sorry I can't help it." What's he talking about? Oh. Right my wrist.

"Y-you shouldn't be near me during the night terrors I should have warned you-" His voice shakes as he stumbles with his words. I cut him off by just putting a hand on his cheek.

"Karkat. It's ok. Please calm down." I say. He whispers something but I can't hear it.

I push his hair back and twirl it around my finger. He looks up at me, looking surprised and calmer at the same time. Soon he closes his eyes and tries to relax.

I hope he's ok...

Holy shit my arm stings. What is with those nails? Damn.

"Hey John..." He says quietly. "Yeah?" I ask. "...Thank you.."

And with that my eyes widen a little. He sounds so.. Not Karkat. It's like he's vulnerable I don't like this... It scares me. A lot.


	2. Chapter 2

I fell asleep. Only after a little while but it was so quiet can you really blame me?

I don't know if Karkat did again or not. I hope he didn't have any more nightmares at least.

When I open my eyes he is no where in sight.

I look around the room but still no Karkats around. I stand up and decide to look for him.

"Karkat?" I ask. The only thing I get in response is a faint cough. I follow the sound to the bathroom.

He is sitting on the floor in front of the toilet and leaning over it. "Karkat? Are you ok?" I ask.

He glances at me. "Yeah just feeling sick.." He answers. I've never seen him sick before. Or heard about it. Hm...

"Do you need anything?" I ask. He shakes his head no. I walk in and kneel down next to him.

"Do you think it was something you ate? Or maybe it's just the flu.." I start looking for reasons why he would be feeling this way. Maybe it has something to do with that nightmare... I don't know how that would be possible though. Then again nothing seems to make sense anymore. It's like all logic got removed when we started the game.

"No.. Trolls don't get sick." He replies. "Huh? What do you mean? Everyone gets sick sometime." I tilt my head. "It's like how our skin is tougher. We block it out very easy so it's very fucking hard to get sick. It becomes living hell when we do though. If I was sick it would be worse." He explains.

"But if you just got sick it will take time for it to build up wont it?" I ask. "Wait.. You aren't supposed to be cold are you? Because of the blood thing?" I continue. "No.. I'm normally the warmest blooded of us." He replies. "Damn.. You were sick all day weren't you?" I ask. "...Kind of. But to answer your first question, not really. It will hit us hard and not get much worse then that. Within the first day we will already be at the worst it can get. It might increase a little but not much." He explains.

"...I hope you're ok.." I reply. I wish I could help him but if their bodies work different with colds I don't know if anything I can think of will help. Hell I don't even know what kind of sickness it is.

He goes into a coughing fit. I probably shouldn't have made him talk...

I rub his back and look away. I feel so bad.

Oh gross! Yeah that was puke. "Guuuh..." He sits back. "I'll get you some water.." I say and stand up.

When I come back with the water he is sitting against the wall and breathing heavier.

"Are you ok?" I ask and rush over. "Just. Tired." He answers. I send a breeze at him to try and cool him off. He turns his head away, staying silent. Holy crap this thing is hitting him fast.

"Can you stand?" I ask. …...

"We gotta get you to your room or the living room" I continue. "I don't want to move..." He says softly. "Karkat you can't stay on the bathroom floor." I reply. He doesn't give me much of a reaction.

This is really freaking me out.

I pick him up and carry him to his room. Then I realize he sleeps in that weird pod thing... So I take him to the couch instead. He doesn't fight me at all when I'm carrying him or laying him down.

Normally it would be like "egbert put me the fuck down right now blah blah fuck blah"

But this. He just so tired...

A few hours pass of him just sleeping. I watched him. Called Rose who just had me talk to Kanaya.

And now I'm just in the kitchen running a rag under some cold water to put on his forehead.

I hope this doesn't last long. Kanaya said he will probably just be laying there for a few days. He should be fine as long as I keep an eye on him and try to keep him cool or warm, whichever he needs at the time. Basic care I guess. Only problem is that because how rare it is for a troll to be sick, it will probably just be a few days but with whatever it is about him that makes him a mutant there is no telling what all about him is different. He may be weaker than the others and take longer to recover or much faster. It's really confusing since I don't even know what his mutation is. And I hardly understood any of those big words she was using when explaining. I had to stop her like 5 times to simplify it.

It's so complicated! Ugh!

I walk back to the living room and put the cold rag on his forehead.

He looks pretty uncomfortable...I hear a small murmer but I can't make out any words. Is he dreaming?

Either that or he doesn't want to bother speaking up to talk to me.

"Are you awake?" I ask. He doesn't respond. Yup, he's dreaming. I hope it isn't bad...

His face changes, getting a little more in distress. Today is one of the first times I've ever seen him sleeping. I wonder if these nightmares happen often...

He coughs, getting my attention instantly. Oh no he doesn't look good. I rub his horn to try and calm him down.

Lucky for me, it works. He calms down and appears normal. Thank god.

I sit on the floor and let out a sigh of relief. I really should just keep an eye on him. But he could be sleeping for a long time and that would be boring. I need to get some sleep myself anyway... But how will I know if he is ok or not? Dammit. Ok I can figure this out.

I lay some blankets and pillows on the floor and make sure that I am as close to the couch as I can be when I lay down.

I'll hear him I'm sure.


End file.
